VALUABLE OLD DOCUMENTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 259, 29 July 1919, Page 6

VALUABLE OLD DOCUMENTS

'' HISTORY IN THE MAKING.

' Reaohing to a height of three f'fe'et on' a table in a. baok room in tho ■ -Wellington District Land Office, Custondiouse Quay, is ft pile of. musty old doouments, wliioh have been stowed away in a cabinet, probably ever since the Wellington Provincial' Government 'was • merged in the New Zealand Government. The documents are various

in Some relate to the purchase of lands from the Natives; 6ome " to interchanges and transfers cf blocks and sections of' Wellington and Nelson lands in the early '40s;- others again are journals of the voyages of some of , the early ships, passenger lists, most carefully compiled, and including the ■ ' names of many hardy , pioneers who "blazed tho tiail," and blazed it well. Among the more valuable documents are the official appointments of such men as Colonel Wakefield, Captain Wakefield, ■ William (afterwards Sir William) Pox, • and Wm,. Hale. Another .document out of the misty past is a memorial of . • sympathy "To tho inhabitants of. the a settlement of Nelson, New Munster," from .Wellington residents, sympathising with the, aforesaid inhabitants over the. Wairau (spelt in the document Wairoa) massaore, and promising justice for tho "outrage and protection for; the future. This bears about 120 .signatures, inolud--,-ing those of George Huntsr, Daniel llidVdiford, .Edwin Bannister, Jaoob Joseph, Thomas' Waters} John Wade, &nd others. '-One; remarkable feature, in connection with these documents is the fine standard. .fcaliffritphy then maintained. The ■writjng; is.generally of copperplate uniformity; and style, and in a way is a reflection .oh the present average handwriting, to !be seen in public offices or _,elsewhere v . ' These documents, whbh certainly have an'historical value as far as Wellington and Nelson are concrned, are being handed over to the historical branch of tho Dominion Museum, whore it is hoped they will be classified and recorded as bents their importance.